How to apply for UCU strike funds

We are committed to ensuring members striking over pensions, pay and working conditions have access to as much financial support as possible. Members can apply to funds: the national UCU fighting fund and our own local hardship fund. This pages explains how to apply to both funds. If you run into any problems or have any questions you would like to discuss, please contact the branch on admin@birminghamucu.org and we will do our best to help you.

UCU Fighting Fund

Claims to the UCU Fighting Fund is open to any member who has taken part in strike action as part of the higher education disputes which commenced in November 2019.

Please note: in February 2020, UCU confirmed that members who have already claimed in round one (November/December 2019) do not have to qualify again and will receive payment from day one of the forthcoming action.

Members must apply to the fund via the UCU fighting fund 2019 page on the UCU national website.

In order to make a claim to the Fighting Fund you need to:
  • be paying subscriptions at the correct rate (if any subscription is payable);
  • have participated in official strike action for which officers have agreed to make funds available; and,
  • provide evidence of deduction from your salary or loss of earnings for strike action.*
Payment is made:
  • in the sum of £50 for the third and subsequent days of strike action for members earning £30,000 gross or more per annum (subject to a cap of £800); and,
  • in the sum of up to £75 for the second and subsequent days of strike action for members earning less than £30,000 gross per annum (this is subject to a cap of £1,100).
Claims to the Fighting Fund in respect of all disputes can only be made once members receive payslips showing deductions for strike action.*
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* Hold on a minute! What if you work on a casual, hourly contract and don’t get a payslip? Don’t worry. You are still eligible for the national fighting fund. You just need to be able to provide some form of evidence of the work and pay you’ve missed. That might include (screenshots of) emails you’ve received confirming your work, or a timetable showing when you would have been working, or it might be something else. There’s no need to wait until the end of the month before putting in these claims, either.
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There are reasonable human beings working on processing these claims, so don’t worry if you’re not sure: we’d advise you to put in the claim as best you can, get a claim number in response, and then contact fightingfund@ucu.org.uk quoting your claim number if you need to follow up. If you’re having any trouble claiming for days you were on strike, you can get in touch with the branch, too.
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We encourage members who have the means to do so to donate to the UCU Fighting Fund so that there are sufficient funds available to support members who require financial support.
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BUCU local hardship fund

Members voted at our February 2020 General Members Meeting to create a local hardship fund to help members experiencing financial harship to offset the pay they will lose by striking.

Each member (including PGTAs!) is now eligible to claim a total of £100 from our local hardship fund. You can claim simply by filling in your details when you register for picketing in the Guild of Students’ Harvey Milk Room, or by email if you prefer. For those in particular hardship, the committee has also been empowered to grant larger sums on a case-by-case basis. If you have any questions at all about any of this, please email Russ, our branch administrator, at admin@birminghamucu.org

If you’re currently experiencing hardship or worried about the impact the strike days will have on you, please don’t suffer in silence. Please get in touch so that we can support you. All enquiries will be treated in stricted confidence.

In order to make our local support work, we need to raise money for our fund. We’ve set up a gofundme page to take donations in support of the strike. Please do donate if you are in a position to do so, and encourage friends, family and any groups you are involved in, such as political parties, to make a donation if possible. Your support enables more of us, especially our most vulnerable members, to come out on strike—it really means a lot.